The Code of Practice on the Prevention and Eradication of Sexual Harassment in the Workplace should be enforced not only at all places of work, but also at the Dewan Rakyat and Dewan Negara, as even members of Parliament can be liable for sexual misconduct.

"Parliament can be considered as a 'work place' for MPs and thus the code should apply if they are MPs who could not restrain themselves from sexually harassing others in Parliament," said Chong Eng, DAP deputy secretary general and MP for Bukit Mertajam.

In a statement to the press on Sunday, Chong had related her encounter in the previous week's parliamentary session and expressed her regret that the remarks were made in such a manner that was typically chauvinistic.

"MP for Kinabatangan Bung Moktar Radin and MP for Ipoh Timor Thong Fah Cheng had chosen to use offensive and sexist words of 'boleh masuk sikit' and 'beri masuk sikitlah' instead of the usual 'minta laluan' or 'minta jalan' or 'minta penjelasa' when they ask permission to interrupt MP for Batu Gajah Fong Poh Kuan and myself," she added.

She said that other MPs had laughed in response to the references made by their two Barisan Nasional colleagues.

"Nobody would laugh when usual 'minta jalan' was used. That is enough to prove that 'boleh masuk sikit' and 'beri masuk sikitlah' have implied meanings of a male chauvinist joke," she said.

Chong Eng stressed that the Parliament is an esteemed institution and all MPs must set good examples in respecting human dignity and treat fellow women MPs as equal partners.

The sexual harassment code was initiated to provide guidelines to employers on the establishment of in-house mechanisms to prevent and eradicate sexual harassment in the workplace.

In the code, sexual harassment is defined as "any unwanted conduct of a sexual nature having the effect of verbal, non-verbal, visual, psychological or physical harassment".

The code was initiated by Lim Ah Lek, former minister of human resources, and implemented last year.

Women's Aid Organisation executive secretary Ivy Josiah told malaysiakini that there is an urgent need for all MPs to go through gender sensitive programmes to avoid further incidents of sexual harassment in Parliament.

"This is a clear case of ignorance as it shows that there is a lack of awareness and sensitivity towards what actually constitutes sexual harassment," she said.

"The comments made by the two MPs fall into the category of 'verbal harassment', as defined in the sexual harassment code. It is ironic that the code was instituted by the Ministry of Human Resources, and yet this sort of thing can still happen in Parliament," Ivy said.